2011 October
Talking Comics with Tim | Tim Hall
The Last Mortician
Halloween seemed like the perfect time to run my email interview with writer Tim Hall regarding The Last Mortician, his first-time collaboration with his longtime friend, Dean Haspiel. The story, which explores death and love plus a great deal in between, launched earlier this month at Tor.com. Hall and Haspiel are storytellers that clearly relish challenging each other through their work. I appreciate Hall’s eagerness to discuss his craft, as well as Haspiel’s willingness to share some of the pencils for two panels. I really hope the creators’ Frankenstein reboot (mentioned in our interview) breaks out of the lab soon to terrorize the masses.
Tim O’Shea: As a novelist and screenwriter who also works periodically in comics (and who is seemingly always busy with multiple creative efforts), what attracted you to working with Dean on The Last Mortician?
Tim Hall: Dean and I have known each other for almost 15 years, and have supported each other’s work unconditionally and seen each other through some serious personal ups and downs. I have always had the greatest respect for Dean’s work and he is without question the best reader and biggest supporter of my writing. So why hadn’t we worked together before? First, we’re idiots, but also because we were each in our own worlds. Dean approached me seriously about working together nearly two years ago now, and we’ve since worked on a lot of stories and pitches; this is just the first that’s been published.
I know what you’re thinking, and yes–it really is just like “When Harry Met Sally.”
- October 31, 2011 @ 06:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Robert Crumb and Gary Groth on almost everything
If you were to list the five most important cartoonists in the history of comics, the chances are good Robert Crumb would be on the list. If you were to list the five most important editor/publishers in the history of comics, the chances are good Gary Groth of Fantagraphics would be on that list. For a lot of people, they’d each be at the top. So if you are a comics reader and you can think of a better way to spend your afternoon than reading a 13,000 word interview with Crumb by Groth for The Comics Journal, then please, become my personal planner, because your life must be freaking awesome.
- October 31, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Happy Halloween from Emily Carroll
Never let it be said that webcomics wunderkind Emily Carroll is not a woman of her word. When she began her latest horror comic “Margot’s Room” at the beginning of October, she promised there would be blood. Well, she’s posted the fifth and final chapter just in time for Halloween. The title? “BLOOD.” And yes, the climax of Carroll’s dark domestic nightmare lives up to the name.
Read the whole thing by visiting the opening page and clicking on the objects mentioned in Carroll’s poem, in the order she mentions them. And don’t miss her earlier stunner of a horror comic “His Face All Red” while you’re at it.
- October 31, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
“Cornered” by monsters!
Legion of Monsters
Cornered, the blog where artists “recreate the spot character illustrations which appeared in the upper left-hand corners of so many classic comics,” is celebrating Halloween by featuring various horror-related comics. For instance, above Brendan Tobin redraws the corner box for Marvel’s classic horror comic Legion of Monsters, and today they’ve also featured Where Monsters Dwell and Storm and Dracula, from Uncanny X-Men #159, among others. Go check’em out.
- October 31, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Comic Couture | Aquaman vs. literal litter on new shirt
Marine Litter
Just when you thought Aquaman might be getting a little respect–his New 52 book has been one of the highlights of the relaunch for me–along comes Threadless to hold him back. The King of the Seven Seas offers a reminder that you should always cut the plastic rings on six-pack holders before throwing them away, because you never know where they might end up or who might get stuck in them. I imagine Black Manta is working on a giant net made of them right now …
The shirt is available for purchase here.
- October 31, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Australian retailer loses fight with Marvel over Ghost Rider clothes
An Australian retailer’s Ghost Rider clothing brand has gone down in flames.
The Courier Mail reports the Australian Trade Marks Office has rejected an application by Brisbane clothing-store owner Gary Charles to register the words “Ghost Rider” following opposition by Marvel.
Charles had first applied to register the trademark in 2009 and, following a threat of legal action by the company, decided to pursue his case. “I thought why should I let them push me around,” he told the newspaper. “But if I’d known the trouble it would be I would have dropped the trademark.”
Solicitor Fiona Brittain, who represented Marvel Characters Inc., argued Charles’ application was made in bad faith, and that he’d previously attempted to register such marks as Red Bull and Army of One. An investigation by her firm allegedly uncovered counterfeit clothing in his store, “including Spider-Man and Marvel Superheroes branded garments.”
The hearing officer was persuaded by the evidence, ruling: “The evidence which the Opponent has provided in respect of the Applicant’s other trade mark applications and registrations, in conjunction with the evidence of the clothing brands available for sale in the Applicant’s shop, is sufficient for me to be satisfied that this application is an example of the Applicant’s standard pattern of behaviour, a pattern which leaves much to be desired as far as commercial fair dealing is concerned.”
Now Charles is left with Ghost Rider-branded denim shorts that, according to the newspaper, he was still trying to “offload” last week. If that’s the case, he should probably expect another letter from Marvel …
- October 31, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile coming to the iPad
Meanwhile
If there was ever a graphic novel that was ready-made for its own iPad app, it would have to be Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile. The interactive “Choose Your Own Adventure”-like graphic novel came with tabs at the side of each page directing readers to choose the next step in the story — if they could avoid wiping out all of mankind in the process, of courses.
In this case it seems like turning the graphic novel into an app could actually make it easier to read, as the device does the work of keeping track of where you are in the story and, in theory, lets you move backward and forward to see the various plot points. So it’s no surprise that Shiga has been working with interactive fiction writer Andrew Plotkin on a version for the various iOS devices.
“I picked up Meanwhile at PAX East in 2010 … I immediately fell in love with it — a thoughtful, beautifully-designed take on the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure genre,” Plotkin said on his blog. “When I got my iPad, I immediately said ‘That. I have to do that. In people’s hands. Interactively. It will happen.’”
The Meanwhile app is due out this fall.
- October 31, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Scary Go Round‘s John Allison on digital vs. paper
Bad Machinery
John Allison, creator of Bad Machinery and Scary Go Round, hates e-books:
[A book is] a tactile object relatively unchanged since the Gutenberg press. You’ve got to hold that thing in front of your face. It’s your buddy until you’re done with it. A well-thumbed, much read book is like a vile, beloved, drooled on childhood bunny, but you wouldn’t buy one of those second-hand unless you had a lot of problems in your life.
…
I’ve seen examples of the beautiful work being done in interactive ebooks for children. They depress me. Kids are in a world of their own and we seek ever more to make concrete things that would have lived in their imagination. Any graphic work is dead on screen compared to how it looks on paper.
While Allison is not the only one to express these sentiments, it’s interesting to hear them from someone who is best known for his webcomics, although that may be in part because, as he told Newsarama a few years ago, “I find reading on the screen painful, because I spend most of the day staring at my Cintiq and one of those nuclear new iMacs that work so hard to burn your eyes clean out.”
- October 31, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Nate Powell at U.N.; Stan Lee’s YouTube World of Heroes
Nate Powell at the U.N.
Creators | Any Empire and Swallow Me Whole creator (and our special guest this weekend for What Are You Reading?) Nate Powell appeared at the United Nations earlier this month with several teen-fiction writers who contributed to What You Wish For, a benefit book to fund libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. Video of the event can now be found on the U.N. website. [Top Shelf]
Business | Details on the collaboration between Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment Inc. and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s Vuguru have emerged: The two companies will work on a YouTube channel called “Stan Lee’s YouTube World of Heroes.” The channel is one of the 100 online video channels announced by the Google-owned video site, which seeks to add “professional, high-quality programming” to its site. [Los Angeles Times]
Business | They might move slow and eat people, but MSNBC estimates that zombies are worth about $5 billion to the economy. [MSNBC]
- October 31, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Mr. Murder is Dead creative team shares a new Halloween strip
Courtesy of Victor Quinaz, Brent Schoonover and Archaia Comics, we’re pleased to share a Halloween-themed comic strip by the creative team behind Archaia’s Mr. Murder is Dead, starring the story’s main character, The Spook. Click on the image below to check it out:
Smashed Pumpkins
- October 31, 2011 @ 05:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading? with Nate Powell
Big Questions
Hello and welcome once again to What Are You Reading?, where every week we talk about the comics, books and other stuff we’ve been reading lately.
Our special guest this week is musician and comic creator Nate Powell, who you might know from his most recent graphic novel, Any Empire, or the Ignatz and Eisner Award-winning Swallow Me Whole. When he’s not creating comics, he’s hanging out at the United Nations with the likes of R.L. Stine, Ann M. Martin and other teen-fiction writers in support of What You Wish For, a collection of young adult stories and poems. Proceeds from the book will be used to fund libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in Chad.
To see what Nate and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
- October 30, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Last day to enter the 30 Characters Challenge
30 Characters Challenge
Last year around 140 creators participated in The 30 Characters Challenge, where they attempted to create a brand-new character every day in November. They’re doing it again this year, and already they have more than 350 creators signed up. But there’s still room for more — today’s the last day to sign up, so head over to their registration page if you think you’ve got what it takes to create 30 new characters over the next month.
- October 30, 2011 @ 10:21 AM by JK Parkin
Robert Kirkman to appear on The View this Monday
ABC’s talk show The View will host their annual “spooky Halloween spectacular” episode this Monday, and who better to have as a guest than the creator of the hottest horror property around, Robert Kirkman. The Walking Dead creator is scheduled to be Whoopi Goldberg and co.’s first guest, so check your local listings and set your DVRs accordingly.
- October 30, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
The Fifth Color | Forward into the past with Marvel solicitations for January 2012
Oh Phoenix Force, we know you...
As most of you CBRians know, Marvel’s solicitations for January 2012 came out last Friday, so our look forward into the past is a little delayed. On the bright side, the first of 2012′s books seem like something that deserve a few more days reflection. After all, 2012 is the year it all comes together! You guys, there’s going to be an Avengers movie. A real, live action, big budget, A-list star Avengers movie! All Marvel’s rather crazy Hollywood ideas are paying off next summer and, with a little hard work, the House of Ideas could come to a beautiful fruition.
So while our celebratory May month is still off in the distance, the recently hung Chrismas decorations let me know that January is just around the corner. Can we get an idea of what next year will look like, through the first books to roll out at the start of the year? Let’s just read along and find out, shall we?
Continue Reading »
- October 28, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Carla Hoffman
Ben Towle gives steampunk a fresh twist
Ben Towle has posted some sketches on his blog of a work that is not so much in progress as on hold: A graphic novel adaptation of Cherie Priest’s steampunk zombie novel Boneshaker. Towle has an interesting perspective:
As I looked to working up some drawings for this, I made a deliberate effort to avoid for the most part visual references that dealt with steampunk and instead sought out historical imagery from the American Civil War. My approach to this was just to forget about “steampunk” entirely and to approach the project as an alternate history of the Civil War.
In the end, what got him was the zombies, or rather, the daunting task of coming up with a visual take on zombies that hasn’t been done a million times before. He hasn’t given up, though, just put the project on hiatus for now… and he’s looking at some other books as well. In the meantime, enjoy the art—he has a few more pieces posted at his blog.
- October 28, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson